Most Read... Rebecca WattsThe Cult of the Noble Amateur
(PN Review 239)
John McAuliffeBill Manhire in Conversation with John McAuliffe
(PN Review 259)
Patricia CraigVal Warner: A Reminiscence
(PN Review 259)
Eavan BolandA Lyric Voice at Bay
(PN Review 121)
Vahni CapildeoOn Judging Prizes, & Reading More than Six Really Good Books
(PN Review 237)
Christopher MiddletonNotes on a Viking Prow
(PN Review 10)
Next Issue Kirsty Gunn re-arranges the world John McAuliffe reads Seamus Heaney's letters and translations Chris Price's 'Songs of Allegiance' David Herman on Aharon Appelfeld Victoria Moul on Christopher Childers compendious Greek and Latin Lyric Book Philip Terry again answers the question, 'What is Poetry'
Poems Articles Interviews Reports Reviews Contributors
Reader Survey
PN Review Substack

This poem is taken from PN Review 123, Volume 25 Number 1, September - October 1998.

Four Poems Helen Farish

The Convent Half Hour

That half hour we have it's like
something wild running
to the delicate edge of earshot in months
when light is translucent
as a well-strained jelly.

We live by the clock and the bell but that half hour
lasts longer than the yellow smell of hayfields,
longer than doubt and I suspect
God loves what we call ours
more than what we have named his:

more than hems soaking up matins dew,
more than jams and hand-made cards,
courgettes, pears and the chapel flowers;
more than bread rising, hymn choosing and the worship
so minutely prepared.

Thirty minutes for angels to guard,
...


Searching, please wait... animated waiting image